Overview

The specialist will support the Head of Engineering Practice to establish the Software Engineering capability within the Engineering Practice, and to recruit new engineering talent into BPDTS Ltd.

Latest start date

Monday 5 November 2018

Expected contract length

Six months minimum

Location

North West England

Organisation the work is for

BPDTS Ltd is a company that provides services exclusively to DWP.

Maximum day rate

About the work

About the work

Opportunity attribute name

Opportunity attribute value

Early market engagement

Who the specialist will work with

The specialist will support the Head of Engineering Practice to establish the software engineering capability within the Engineering Practice, and to recruit new engineering talent into BPDTS. There is currently a need to increase senior capacity within the Engineering Practice to shape and drive activities in this area to establish the required momentum across the business.The specialist will work with counterparts in DWP to build cross-community ways of working, support the organisation’s strategy to increase digital capability and assure delivery of digital services.

What the specialist will work on

1. Support the Head of Engineering Practice to establish the Software Engineering community.

2. Work with counterparts in DWP to build cross-community ways of working which support the organisation’s aims to increase digital capability and assure the delivery of digital services.

3. Work with DWP counterparts to develop a deep understanding of customer needs both now and in the future to establish a longer-term view of service demand.

4. Undertake effective knowledge transfer and handover to BPDTS personnel at the end of the assignment.

Work setup

Work setup

Opportunity attribute name

Opportunity attribute value

Address where the work will take place

Manchester or Newcastle with significant travel to other BPDTS Ltd sites.

Working arrangements

Onsite 4 or 5 days a week with significant travel between Manchester, Newcastle, London, Leeds and Blackpool. Maximum, of £1,000 per week limit on expenses, which must be pre-approved and adhere to BPDTS Ltd Expenses Policy.

Security clearance

Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) required

Additional information

Additional information

Opportunity attribute name

Opportunity attribute value

Additional terms and conditions

Skills and experience

Buyers will use the essential and nice-to-have skills and experience to help them evaluate suppliers’ technical competence.

Skills and experience

Opportunity attribute name

Opportunity attribute value

Essential skills and experience

Demonstrable experience of forming and leading software engineering team in a digital environment.

Collegiate in approach and able to build a vision and momentum for change.

Familiar with professional services business models and associated business processes.

Significant experience of managing the delivery of large-scale digital solutions in both Agile and Waterfall environments to time, budget and quality.

Experience of coaching and leading self-organising teams in advanced Agile techniques.

Able to demonstrate experience of challenging organisational processes to reduce complexity and optimise delivery flow.

Extensive experience of leading and continuously improving large Software Engineering teams within a complex, multi-disciplinary environment.

Good practical working knowledge of a broad range of technologies (open source and proprietary) used over the last 20 years.

Extensive and deep experience of full stack system development.

Able to communicate effectively with and understand software engineering practitioners.

Able to build credible relationships at senior levels within a complex organisation.

Nice-to-have skills and experience

Experience of contributing to and influencing organisational transformation.

Experience of technical services business development.

Experience of working in Waterfall environments and understanding of constraints and requirements when working with or interfacing with legacy systems.

How suppliers will be evaluated

Utilise personal network to attract talented individuals to the organisation

Work with counterparts in DWP to build cross-community ways of working

Support BPDTS’s strategy to increase digital capability

Define service outcomes offered and what excellence looks like

Assure delivery of digital services and provide direction and coaching.

Deploy people and services to ensure capability and solutions offered by the service practice align with customer need.

Assessment methods

Work history

Reference

Interview

Scenario or test

Presentation

Evaluation weighting

Technical competence

65%

Cultural fit

15%

Price

20%

Questions asked by suppliers

Questions asked by suppliers

Supplier question

Buyer answer

1.
Do you have any budget guidelines for this resource?

As per the published advertisement the Department has not set a Day rate/Budget range for this role.

2.
Can you please confirm the IR35 status of the role?

The role is outside of IR35.

3.
Is there a current incumbent?

There is currently an interim resource in place. This individual is due to leave shortly.

4.
Are you able to give more information as to which of the 'Assessment Methods' you will be using?

We will be using Presentations. It is anticipated these will be on Monday 22nd October 2018 in Manchester. We acknowledge that this is soon after the closing date of the 17th October. We will be notifying suppliers of the sift results on Friday 19th October and would appreciate it, if suppliers / specialists could keep Monday 22nd October free in the event they are successful in the sift and are invited to a presentation.

5.
Can you let us know what the Presentations are to address on the 22nd October please?

Presentations to address the key areas of:o Establishing, developing and recruiting into the communityo Equipping our practitioners to be successfulo Simplifying and automating what we do – both as a community and in delivering our engineering services on the ground o Improving the quality, value for money and effectiveness of our existing services to DWPo Developing new services to DWP to support the digital transformation of the Welfare System

6.
Is this role a Software Engineering Lead or a Programme manager?

The role will require the individual to possess detailed technical software engineering skills, knowledge and experience which will have been gained through practising as a software engineer not as a programme manager. However the specialist will not be practising as a software engineer but in the capacity of a Programme Manager.

7.
Can a supplier send profiles of more than 1 specialist for this role? If yes, how?

Digital specialist suppliers can only:• apply once for each opportunity• put forward 1 specialist for each specialist opportunity

8.
What is the current headcount of Engineering Practice (including interim/contract)?

Currently there are 230 people in the Engineering practice, of which 104 are Software Engineers. We do not believe the breakdown of interim / contract is relevant.

9.
What is the target headcount of Engineering Practice in next 12 months?

Currently we have plans to on-board/recruit a further 140 software engineers in the next 6 months.

10.
How many Programme Manager/Software Engineering Lead are currently supporting Head of Engineering Practice?

The Software Engineering Lead (this role) is one of 4 people that support the Head of Engineering (others lead on DevOps, Infrastructure Engineering and QA). There are a further 6 managers currently in the practice that support these people, with ongoing recruitment to appoint more.

11.
Could we ask you to explain or expand on, on what you're looking for, from this question. "Experience of technical services business development"

We would like to see demonstrable experience of managing the client/supplier relationship effectively and building the substance of a practice.

12.
Do you believe it would be advantageous if the specialist has previous experience of working with DWP / BPDTS?

We do not believe it creates an advantage or a disadvantage to have previous experience of working for DWP / BPDTS Ltd. Based on evidence of the specialists previous background and experiences we will be looking for them to increase senior capacity, assist recruiting new talent and shape and drive activities in this area.

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